Time After Time
by Moondreams
Summary: After the war, Ginny, a reporter for the Prophet, must interview a scarred young man who is escaping from the past by living under another name whose loved her for many years. Loosely based on Beauty and the Beast.
1. unexpected guest

Title: Time After Time

By: Moondreams

Chapter: Prologue

A crack of lightning streaked against the window as rain drops beat against the manor's stones. Inside a young man sat down in front of a battered writing desk. He stretched his long legs underneath and opened up a book. He quickly turned to a blank page. He stared down thoughtfully at the parchment page and twirled a quill in his fingers as he collected his thoughts. He then dipped the quill in his inkwell and started to write.

_It was raining, a horrible storm like tonight's, and my thoughts drift unwillingly to the last battle. My last battle, the war against the Dark Lord wouldn't end until later. I had been scared as the lines started to form. The Death Eaters stretched before us like a large black snake. I had watched my friends as they stared into the stormy night. Each face set with determination and some with eagerness. I had felt like even more of a coward. My blood was running cold as was the rest of my body in the pouring rain. I caught a flash of red hair in the distance. I craned my neck to see, but it wasn't her. 'You should have told her' I had thought with disgust. _

"_You scared, mate?" asked a voice beside me. I turned to see Harry at my side. "Yeah," I told him truthfully. I remember him watching me for a moment. This was supposed to be our world's savior, the boy who could do almost anything with ease. The boy I had known for years. What makes you so different? I had wondered. "Me too," he told me quietly. I blinked with shock. Then, with a mighty yell, he lead us into battle with his wand aglow, lighting our way. My comrades cheered ready to drive out the dark menace. With my wand held tightly, I rushed foreword, trying to think of a couple of spells that would work. I shot off a couple actually hitting a Death Eater and sending him sailing backwards. I was so proud of myself, the something pierced through my leg. I crumpled down into the mud. I wasn't the only one, people lay dead around me, as blood blossomed from their chests and other vital parts. I had been hit with a death arrow, deadly sharp pieces of metal that rained down by the Death Eaters. The pain and the blood loss was causing my head to spin. For one second, I had done my part. I would never be a hero. And all this time, I never had the guts to tell Ginny that I loved her. With that, I lost consciousness. _

_I still have no idea how long I laid there in the mud, surrounded by the dead. I awoke to a foot nudging me in the side. I opened my eyes to be greeted by the most glorious blue sky. I was alive, by a miracle. I tried to move but pain raced though my body. "Help," I managed to call out weakly. Two men dressed in Ministry of Magic uniforms entered my view. "This one's alive," the younger one said happily as he knelt down and brought a canteen to my lips. The older one scowled down at me. "Don't get your hopes up for this one, Roberts. Death arrow, he'll be dead soon. Come on, we've got too many to take to the healers," he said with weariness with a twinge of annoyance. "We can't just leave him here," Roberts protested. "Come on, Roberts," the man growled as he walked away. No, don't go, I tried to say but no sound would come out. Roberts gave me a look of pity before he followed his senior. 'No, come back,' kept running through my head. But he never did. Surely, Harry would come looking for me. Or Hermione, she was good at remember things. They would notice if I wasn't among them, right? _

_The next time I woke up, I found myself face to face with a young man that would soon become my dearest friend. He smiled down at me wearily. A patch of dried blood stained his shoulder as well as his hands. "So you are awake. That's a good sign," he said holding a bit of metal. "I'm Nathaniel Grayson, healer." He introduced himself. He looked too young to be a healer. I thought him to be around 20. When I asked later, my guess wasn't far off. He'd be 23 in January. But to a 17 year old, that meant an adult. I looked around; I was in a large dimly lit room of gray stone. People were huddled together on the floor, some talking, others crying. "And you are?" he asked as he shoved his bangs out of his eyes. I am the one they left for dead. "I am nobody." _

"_Nice to meet you, Monsieur Nobody," Dr. Grayson had said with a warm smile. And so began my imprisonment in the one of Voldermort's dungeons. _

His writing was interrupted with a soft knocking on the door. "Excuse me, Master," a high pitched voice said. He turned his attention to Diri, his house elf, and motioned her to come forward. "Yes?" he inquired as he rested his quill into his inkwell. "Diri came to say, there's someone here to see you, Sir," Diri told him as she watched with enormous globe like eyes. He scowled. If it was that wretched woman again... Laverne Gobsnockle was the most unpleasant woman he had ever encountered. She'd had her eyes set on Grayson Manor since he'd first arrived there. And she had made it clear that she did not approve of some stranger taking the manor and changing his last name to Grayson.

"Send them away," he said curtly. "But sir, Diri thinks you shouldn't. It's raining awfully bad sir," Diri said in protest. The young master sighed. She was right... as usual. "Fine, have the others prepare a bed chamber on the west wing and serve him whatever he wants," he said.

"It's a woman, sir."

"On second thought if it's Laverne, just toss her out," he said as he got up stiffly and walked to a mirror. "Visibli Entrance Hall," he commanded. The mirror started to fog. "Its not, it's a reporter named..." But a cry of disbelief cut her off. In the mirror a very wet and displeased red head was clearly visible.

"Ginny."


	2. Chapter 1: Ginny's assignment

Title: Time After Time

Chapter: 1

By: Moondreams

Notes: Here's another chapter, thank you for the reviews.

"Weasley!"

Ginny flinched sending ink droplets all over her paper. She scowled down at them with frustration. She took out her wand and with a tap the parchment became clean again. How was she supposed to meet her deadline if she kept getting interrupted?

"Weasley!" her editor bellowed again. Ginny stood up and looked over her alcove. A couple other Daily Prophet staff peeked over those with interest. Her purple-faced editor was striding toward her cubical. In one beefy hand, he held a roll of parchment. Ginny's face paled slightly. "Yes, Mr. Dagon?" she asked praying that it sounded innocent enough.

"What is this?" her boss demanded before slamming down the parchment on Ginny's desk.

"My story, sir," Ginny said sincerely. Her editor glowered down on her and it was all Ginny could do not to squirm.

"Your story?" her editor parroted back with a sneer. Ginny nodded.

"Ms. Weasley, what section do you work for?" he asked.

"Wizarding Life," she said quietly.

"And does a story involving werewolf rights belong in that section?" he demanded. Ginny took a deep breath,

"Well, no. But you see, nobody will cover it and since a couple of werewolves fought in the war with us then they should have all the rights that other people do. Because most of them didn't want to be werewolves anyway, it's mostly been a wrong place wrong time sort of thing and besides, all the Wizarding Life section seems to be interested in is Gildory Lockhart's new book. We've done 9 stories on it already and I think..."

"Enough!" Her editor bellowed.

"If I wanted advice on how to run my paper, believe me, Ms. Weasley, you'd be the last person I'd ask," her sneered down at her. Ginny felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

"So to make up for this unsightly mistake..." Mr. Dagon crumbled her story up into a ball. "...I'm assigning you to cover Patrick Grayson at this address," he took out his wand and gave a quill sitting in a small jar a tap. It came to life immediately and started to scribble something on the paper in front of Ginny.

"Who?" she asked with a frown.

"That's just it, no one knows anything about him. He's some rich hermit that refuses to leave his house. Find out why and anything else you can," he said.

"So, you want me to get the 'dirt' on him, correct?" Ginny didn't bother to hide her sarcasm.

"You're job depends on it," he said firmly. He then looked down at Ginny's paper. The quill hadn't stopped writing. It kept scribbling things like, Frank Dagon has the mind of a dead plant, Dagon's so ugly that ogres would turn and run with fright, and other such comments. Ginny reddened even more. Somehow, Fred or George had slipped on of their Instant Insult Quill with her normal ones.

"Sir, I can explain..." she started.

"Don't bother. You have 5 days, bring me the story or clear out your cubical!" he bellowed.

"So, I have five days to find something out about this Grayson guy," Ginny complained over dinner. Some of the people in the restaurant stopped talking and stared at her with disapproval. She ignored them and stared gloomily down at her basket of fish and chips. A very pregnant Hermione stopped stirring her tea and looked up at the redhead with interest.

"Patrick Grayson?" Hermione Potter asked.

"There is no one by that name," Luna, Ron's wife, said airily. The girls ignored her.

"I've heard of him! He gave a lot of money to Hogwarts to fix the west wing that was destroyed during the Death Eaters' raid," Angelina pointed out as she took a bite of spaghetti. She had married Fred right after the war and seemed perfectly content to fit in with the crazy Weasley family. In fact, all the wives (Hermione counted too even though she married Harry) of the Weasley's tried to get together at least once a month. Most of them had spread throughout the British Isles. Hermione taught Transfiguration after McGonnagall's death. Harry had taken a job for the Ministry as an auror, despite Fudge's protests. In fact, Hermione had told them more then once that they are just itching for a reason to suspend Harry. But he slipped out of trouble, much like he had done at Hogwarts. Angelina, Fred, Alicia, and George lived in London close to the twin's joke shop. Angelina, after having an unsuccessful try at the Quidditch League became a healer at St. Mugo's.

Penelope, after Percy's death in the war, moved to Dublin and wrote books for children while dealing with one of her own. Since Ron joined the Quidditch League, he was gone most of the time leaving Luna alone in a cozy house near his parents. Not that Luna minded, after it was discovered that she had the Second Sight, she seemed to drift from present to future and back again.

Fleur and Bill lived in Egypt where he could do curse breaking full time. Fleur also had become a well-known designer of robes. She had her face grace the cover of Witch Weekly 9 times. Charlie hadn't married but he figured it was just because he smelled like burnt ash and cinnamon from living around dragons. But Molly still had her hopes set on him giving up his bachelorhood (and the dangerous job of taming dragons) and settle down.

"And at St.Mugo's, 100, 000 gallons," Angelina pointed out.

"Not at the Ministry though," Alicia whispered. She was a secretary in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department. The girls all leaned closer o hear more about this juicy bit of gossip.

"The war was costly so Fudge himself wrote letters to the wealthy families of the UK for their support. Needless to say, many helped. Seeing how the Daily Prophet screwed up with the truth and praised Fudge for his 'victory' in ending the war and only barely mentioning Harry. No offense, Gin. Well, Grayson's letter was returned unopened. So Fudge tried to send it again and had the same results. So, a messenger was sent to Grayson Manor only to get thrown out of the house. After that, Grayson donated all that money to Dumbledore to rebuild the school. This, as you might imagine, ticked Fudge off even more. So he went to Grayson Manor himself. Patrick Grayson wouldn't even meet him but sent a note saying to get the bloody hell out of his house or he would shove a hot poker up Fudge's rear." The young women all giggled at the threat each making a mental picture of Fudge running around with half a poker protruding from his butt, all except for Penelope and Luna. But Luna was staring off into space and humming tunelessly. Penelope took a sip of coffee and stared at the others over the cup's brim.

"Fudge sees him as a traitor. Someone who doesn't support the ministry doesn't support the country," she said quietly. She had suffered her own losses when it came to the incompetence of the Ministry.

"Therefore, if he gets branded a traitor all his assets will be seized and handed over to the Ministry anyway," Hermione concluded.

"And to find evidence, he'll need the Daily Prophet to dig it up," Fleur pointed out in a slight French accent. Everyone mused over this for a second, each woman lost in her own thoughts over their coffee and tea.

"So, did anyone hear the new Weird Sisters' song that just came out?" Alicia asked breaking up the silence. The girls debated over the song while Ginny sat in silence wondering about her assignment. She closed her eyes. How could she possibly put a man in Fudge's clutches?

Ginny watched the girls go off, each back home to their husbands. She loved them all dearly since she never had any sisters of her own but it wasn't fair! How come they had found their match? How come even mischievous Fred and George could find someone and she couldn't? She was supposed to have ended up with Harry. She had spent hours as a young girl planning just how it would happen. One day he would look at her and not see his best friend's sister or the girl who opened the chamber. A slight shiver went up her back. She even had dreams of him proposing to her. He had poured his heart to her in the dream and she had been thrilled. After all this time, her dreams were coming true. But after the war, it was Hermione that he fell in love with. She didn't hate Hermione. It was impossible to hate 'Mione. But her heart had died that day.

Ginny frowned and kicked at a pebble that went skittering across the street. She sighed again and peered into a shop window at Fleur's newest creation. It was a green robe with light green ivy embroidered on the sleeves and hem. Embroidered butterflies soared gracefully among the leaves and the tiny pink flowers. A small sign was at the base of the mannequin reading, For Price Inquire Within. That was a bad sign. But of course, it was one of Fleur's creations. Even one of the cheaper ones would cost Ginny at least a day's wages. Maybe she should ask for one for Christmas.

"You should buy it, it matches your eyes," a voice drawled.

"Unlike some people, I don't buy on a whim," she answered shortly not even bothering to turn around. She knew it was Malfoy. Even if he hadn't spoken, she would've smelled the seductive cologne he wore. Even now, it was starting to make her pulse beat a little faster. She crossed her arms, more as an unconscious motion of protecting herself then anger.

"Good afternoon to you to, Ms. Weasley," he said as he stepped into her view. Ginny stared at the blonde young man in front of her. He had changed, granted she had seen a grainy picture of him after the war but it hadn't done him justice. He at least had grown five more inches. His hair was getting on the longish side as it brushed the back of his collar. It had a casual sloppiness look to it even though Ginny knew it probably took him a good hour just to get it looking like that. Every inch of him screamed of wealth and indifference and it annoyed the crap out of her.

"What do you want, Ferret?" she asked using his detested nick name. His blue eyes smoldered. He apparently still didn't like being called that. He leaned in closer till he was just inches away from her face.

"Why can't you be nice?" he said quietly.

"Why should I be? You always tormented me," she answered angrily.

"People change," Draco stated.

"You may fool other people, Malfoy, but a leopard doesn't change its spots. Or a snake," she said. He had joined with Dumbledore's side soon after it looked like Voldermort would fall. He even saved Hermione's life which grudgingly made Harry be civil to him. She turned to leave but he caught her by the hand. With one quick motion he had her pressed towards the wall. She stared up at him in anger only to see sadness in his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Ginny's anger quickly melted to surprise. The bad boy was gone and in his place was a stranger. He looked like Draco and acted like him but the Draco she knew would never have apologized.

"For what?" she asked. For tormenting her as a schoolgirl? For making her cry? For bothering her now?

"For everything," he said quietly and then walked off quickly leaving a confused Ginny behind. He didn't even look back. Only when a raindrop fell right on the bridge of her nose did Ginny come back to reality and quickly headed toward the Leaky Cauldron where she'd catch her bus.

"Well, he can't be all bad," she debated as she looked out of the Knight Bus' window. It was pouring in buckets. Lighting streaked through the sky lighting the landscaped as the bus zoomed by. Thunder roared angrily adding to the ferocity of the storm.

"Bloody hell," she swore at the storm. Why did life have to be this hard? When had life gone from simple to such a complicated mess? 'You're grown up, Weasley. Suck it up and deal,' an inner voice said. First Grayson, then Fudge and then Draco had made her life go from somewhat simple to chaos. She scowled at the window. The bus jerked to a stop making Ginny's head ram into the window. She swore again rubbing the bump that was beginning to form. She grabbed her bag and stepped the bus into the pouring rain. She grimaced as her clothing was soaked through in a matter of minutes. She wished she had remembered her umbrella. But she had run out of her flat without it this morning in a hurry to get to work on time. She pushed open the cold metal gates that were attached to an ivy covered brick wall. Beyond the gates, she saw a looming English manor. It looked quiet ordinary with the main part of the house rose to four stories. It then sectioned of to wings at the left and right of the house. She ran quickly down the graveled path toward the door leading into the manor. The gothic door reminded her of the arched doors leading into Hogwarts. Metalwork twisted around it making a series of knots and flourishes around a bronze family crest. Below the crest, which bore the image of a falcon, was a ornate door knocker. Ginny grabbed it and banged it. She wished she could just walk in and get out of the blasted rain but she knew that if Molly had ever found out she'd be skinned alive. Her mother always did have a thing for making sure Ginny always had good manners. Her mum had long since given up teaching her brothers them, although at times, they surprised her. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Ginny scowled at the door and banged again.

"For the love of Merlin, OPEN UP!" she yelled. So much for good manners. The door did open though and a house elf peeked out. Ginny pushed her way in before the house elf could stop her. "I'm here to see your master," she said.

"Master Grayson don't like visitors," the female house elf commented and then frowned at the puddle of water around Ginny's feet. Ginny sighed. She didn't have time for this.

"I'm not a bloody visitor, I work for the Daily Prophet," Ginny commented sourly. She rubbed her temple kneading the knot that had formed. Her head was pounding and all she wanted was a long hot bath and a warm bed. Instead, she was standing in a strange house arguing with a house elf all because of her idiot boss.

"Master Patrick don't subscribe there, he don't," the house elf protested. Ginny closed her eyes and counted to ten before opening them again.

"Go get your master, I just need to talk with him then you can kick me out. I'm a reporter for the Prophet named Virginia Weasley," she said tiredly. The house elf looked like she was going to argue again but thought better of it before snapping her fingers and disappearing.

After a good half hour, Ginny finally sat down on a love seat that was positioned in the drawing room beside the entrance way. Her head was killing her by this point. She already taken a small vile of pain killer potion she kept in her purse. It hadn't done much. Finally, the house elf appeared again. Ginny sat up straight and waited for the verdict.

"Diri's master has said that a room has been prepared for you in the east wing for the night. A tray of food will be brought up for you. Diri's master says that you should write questions and give them to Diri. He'll return them later. Follow Diri," the house elf, Diri, stated. Ginny nodded too tired to argue at this point. The house elf grabbed a candle before leading her through a maze of hallways and doors. Finally, Ginny was ushered into a large room at the end of a long hall of doorways. Without so much as a good bye, the house elf snapped her fingers and disappeared leaving Ginny alone. Ginny walked past the sitting area and opened a pair of French doors that lead to the bedroom. She was vaguely aware of the dark cherry wood and light cream fabrics that decorated the room. On the canopy bed was laid a night gown of dark green, almost the same color of the robe she had been admiring earlier. It was pure silk and felt like heaven when she slipped it on after discarding her wet clothes. She sank down into the feather down bed and was asleep before the house elves came in with a tray of food.

_She's here. Right here in this house. I have refused to see her even though my heart screams at me to do so. It has been so long since I've seen her last. I wonder if she's happy. From the mirror I watched her changing moods of weariness, anger and finally contentment as she slept during the night. I feel like a peeping tom. Her hair captivates me reminding me of a beautiful sunset filled with different shades of reds to reddish gold. Her eyes are the same green as shamrocks yet grow as dark as moss when she is angry or sad. Even now my mind is at a loss to find words to describe her. During my imprisonment in one of Voldermort's dungeon I spent many hours describing her beauty and virtues to Nathaniel who simply grinned saying he'd like to meet this paragon of all womanly virtues. We spent a lot of time discussing other issues as well from medicine, philosophy, herbology and swapping stories from our years at Hogwarts. He had graduated before I had entered but he knew Ginny's twin brothers and spent many hours discussing all the times he had caught them in pranks as a prefect. It was during the second week of imprisonment, when my chance of dying from my wound was very low that I was asked to be called Patrick, my middle name._


End file.
